I GREW UP
IN PHILADELPHIA...

My father and his six brothers were in the rag trade. They manufactured women’s
clothing. Over the years the business mutated through many forms, from high-end, fur-lined raincoats
to bargain basement ready-to-wear. Often, the Apfelbaum boys were way ahead of their times. They would
have clothing lines designed that would bomb totally with the clothing buyers. Yet, strangely, when the women
of the family would wear samples of these outfits, strangers would stop them on the street to learn where the clothes
had been purchased.

One of these daring experiments was the “Bow-Wow” line. “Bow-Wows” was an
intriguing idea consisting of matching children’s and dog coats. To illustrate the way the clothing would
work, two different modeling systems were created. One of them was a pair of extremely expensive stuffed
dogs, which later provided me with a painfully embarrassing memory. The other required the participation
of the seven cousins who, at the time, were old enough to walk.

Thus, one fine Philadelphia morning, the seven of us were awakened by our parents
and bundled off to Rittenhouse Square. There, we were dressed in cute little coats and introduced to our
hearts’ desire: six dogs of differing breeds, each dressed to match a child, or in one case, a pair of children.

The years passed, we grew up and apart. We went on with our lives and moved
to new cities. Twenty years passed, and one day in a drawer, there it was, the photograph commemorating the
event. Kids in coats with dogs in coats, a vision of an innocent age long ago.